Fresh produce marketers attended the inaugural event dubbed BrandStorm™ in San Francisco on Sunday and Monday earlier this week.  This event hosted by United Fresh Produce Marketing & Merchandising Council successfully attracted 120 eager marketers from the industry seeking to collaborate and glean inspiration from the agenda speakers.

Fellow teammate Mackenzie Michel and I had the great pleasure of attending BrandStorm representing DMA Solutions as attendees, presenters and sponsors of the event.  We were encouraged and grateful to have the opportunity to take part in this first-ever (but hopefully not last) event.

Following are 33 take-aways we brought home from the event:

1. Marketers shouldn’t just talk about value, we need to create it.
2. Share of branded produce has increased by 12% since 2010.
3. CPG companies are partnering with fresh categories to spur sales growth and results are positive.
4. The “engagement age” in marketing is starting to transition into the “experience age”.
5. If you want to use social media to increase sales or achieve another goal – do it!  Determine a strategy and make it happen.
6. Millennials and Generation Z are ready for fresh produce brands – but are your brands attracting and delighting them?
7. Many marketers, and fresh produce marketers, share the same struggles relative to our marketing.
8. The best way to connect to your target audience is to create an experience.
9. Our common barriers to social media success are the same as other industry’s including; measuring ROI, alignment with business goals, developing a strategy and securing staff.
10. Produce is in the driver’s seat for success.
11. Better-for-you snack foods have surpassed sweet snack foods.
12. Give consumers what they want, not what you want to sell them.
13. A winning combo to inspire a fresh revolution: accessibility, availability, affordability.
14. Every aspect of our marketing should revolve around solving a customer need.
15. Use packaging to communicate and spread messages such as health claims.
16. Brands bring opportunity to connect and engage with the consumer.
17. Trust is a foundational element of building and maintaining brand health achieving strong in market performance.
18. Value equals more than price.
19. Quantify your value and qualify your uniqueness and align these with the needs of your buyer personas.
20. Three ways to identify your audience; ask questions, use analytics and employ reports/research.
21. A marketing channel is the bridge that connects your company, brand, or product message to the target audience.
22. Define SMART goals to measure your marketing channel success.
23. Get the biggest bang for your marketing buck by considering a fully integrated marketing plan for your blog, email and social media marketing.
24. Build a blog strategy by defining its purpose, name, authors and content types.
25. Blogs drive traffic to content you want to share, converts contacts, establishes brand authority, delivers SEO and segments audiences.
26. Build an email strategy around your ability to convert contacts using mobile optimized content that is personalized and automated based on your audiences needs and behaviors.
27. Measure success of your email marketing with your click-through rate, open rate, conversions and number of unsubscribers.
28. Email marketing provides marketers with a nimble way to connect in a personalized way.
29. There are 2 billion monthly active social media users globally just waiting to connect with your brand.  Go get them.
30. Build your daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly social media strategy by defining the basics; the plan, how to execute the plan and measuring the activity.
31. Determine social media success by measuring brand impressions, network growth, post level engagement, traffic and conversions.
32. Social media provides many benefits including; audience identification, offers targeting capabilities, provides instant feedback, offers market intelligence and drives traffic.
33. DMA Solutions offers marketing resources for fresh produce marketers seeking to accelerate their growth absolutely free of charge.

Click for more information about future events hosted by United Fresh Produce Association.  Did you attend BrandStorm™?  We’d love to hear your thoughts about the event on Twitter.  Send us a message via @TheCoreBlog and let’s chat about elevating your brand and your marketing in 2016.